The No. 6 C. Milton Wright Mustangs remained on top of the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference girls’ soccer standings, Wednesday, after earning a 4-0 win over the No. 16 Bel Air Bobcats.
Despite the four-point margin, the Bel Air (5-2, 1-1 UCBAC Chesapeake Division) made C. Milton (8-0-1, 4-0 UCBAC) battle for each goal earned, holding the Mustangs to just one goal in the first half by Lauren Haggerty off a free kick.
But the Mustangs, applying pressure with their quickness and ball control, earned a number of corners and free kicks to work another three goals in the second half, and help seal the win.
“We wanted to have a full 80 minutes, and that’s what our girls did,” Mustangs head coach Paul Austin said. “They played high pressure, created a lot of mistakes by [Bel Air], created a lot of opportunities, and, even though we only scored one goal in the first half, we really had them on their heels.”
Scoring twice in the second half, C. Milton’s Megan Frailer netted her first in the 47th minute, heading a Jessie Canami pass into the back of the net, and later laced a shot from just outside the top of the box with three minutes to play, capping the Mustang scoring.
“We just really had to work together and connect,” Frailer said. “I scored one of my goals from one of my teammates facing up and passing me the ball, so it was really a team effort.”
Sara Piazza split Frailer’s goals in the 60th minute with a header of her own, that one coming directly from a corner started by Kelsey Targarona.
“Kelsey Targarona will many times take our corners, and she is just a talented player and will really set us up well on our runs,” Austin explained. “We encourage our players to finish their runs and be aggressive. If we are aggressive, we make things happen, and that’s what it is all about.”
The Mustangs put 25 shots on Bel Air keeper Emily Rosenberger, who made 21 saves on shots coming from nearly every angle.
“She made some really nice saves,” Bel Air head coach Josh Coemmer said. “I am glad when goalies get recognized for making good saves, because they so often only get recognized when the ball gets passed them. She just really stepped up and made a lot of important saves.”
And Coemmer is not upset with the effort put forth by his Bobcats, and believes the score did not truly reflect the game that was played.
“They played really well,” Coemmer said of his girls, “and the game was basally a 1-0, 2-0 game until we started to push.
“As a coach, I’m not playing to have a close game. I am trying to get those goals back.”
C. Milton has two extremely tough games ahead of them, taking on No. 2 Mercy, Friday and playing No. 9 Fallston on Saturday, and Austin hopes the most recent win can “springboard” the team into those two games.
Bel Air will have some time off before hosting the Edgewood Rams, Monday.
(Click on the related videos link at the top of the page to see highlights and interviews)
C. Milton Wright 4, Bel Air 0
CMW 1 3 — 4
BA 0 0 — 0
Goals: CMW- Frailer (2), Haggerty, Piazza
Assists: CMW- Marks, Canami, Targarona, Austen
Saves: CMW- Bowen 7; BA-Rosenberger 21
